Cup (or cupped) dipole antennas are known in the art for generating robust and uniform antenna radiation patterns and for providing relatively high aperture efficiencies for relatively small antenna apertures. A conventional cup dipole antenna typically has either crossed dipole antenna elements (for circularly polarized radiation) or a single dipole element (for linearly polarized radiation) disposed in a cavity of a housing (i.e., a so-called “cup”) having a circular cross-sectional shape. The cup is formed from a cylindrical conductor coupled at its base with a conducting plate. The dipole antenna elements are recessed within the cup and a coaxial transmission line penetrates the base of the cup to feed the antenna elements. The cup dipole antenna radiation is due to the combination of direct radiation from the antenna elements and reflected radiation from the cup. Using cup dipole antennas in arrays provides for positive operating characteristics such as beam shaping. Cup dipole antennas are commonly employed in satellite communication systems and radar telemetry systems due to their desirable characteristics such as relatively small size, relatively broad bandwidth and uniform radiation patterns. Both satellite communications systems and radar telemetry systems commonly employ the radio bands generally referred to as the “L”, “S” and “C” bands. As used herein, each band conforms to the IEEE, definition of the band, for example, the L band refers to radio frequencies between 1.0 and 2.0 GHz, the S band refers to microwave frequencies between 2.0 and 4.0 GHz, and the C band refers to microwave frequencies between 4.0 and 8.0 GHz.